Table Tennis - Hobbies

Table Tennis is the correct name for the exciting indoor game that is probably more often called Ping Pong.* It is a fast game and requires considerable skill that can be developed only by long practice. It is easy enough to tap the little celluloid ball over the net with the racquet, but that's not all there is to table tennis.

Table tennis is a game for two or four persons. It is played on a table nine feet long, five feet wide, and thirty inches high. The table top, usually dark green, is bisected laterally by a net, six feet long by six inches high, and longitudinally with a white line, one inch wide. A similarly painted white line usually outlines the edge of the table.

The paddle-like, short-handled racquets are made of wood, covered on both sides with pebbled rubber or sandpaper, and provide a hold on the ball that enables the player to spin the ball in both chop strokes and drives. The small ball should be resilient enough to rebound between eight and nine inches when dropped on the table from a height of twelve inches.

In serving, or putting the ball into play, the server must hit the ball from behind his end of the table so that it will bounce over the net to the other side of the net. His opponent returns the ball after the first bounce. The players continue to hit the ball over the net, always hitting on the first bounce. When a player fails to hit the ball over the net and onto the table, his opponent scores one point. The first player to score twenty-one points wins the game. Service is changed after every five points. It the score reaches a tie at twenty, the service changes after every point, and the game continues until a player wins it by scoring two more points than his opponent.

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